29 March 2011

Alexandra Kotur Departs Vogue

And another one bites the dust over at Vogue. Alexandra Kotur, the magazine's current Style Director, will be departing Vogue for the greener, more society-laden pages of Town & Country, according to WWD. Unlike the other recent Vogue upheavals, I don't have a strong opinion regarding Ms. Kotur's departure. Her work always focused more on the aspects of the fashion industry that I find rather unappealing: society, society balls and parties, rich people/ heiresses wearing Lanvin, etc. Even when she was the Senior Editor for Special Projects back in 2003, I don't know that her work really jumped off the page and moved me in the way that, say, the reviews of Sarah Mower always have done. She's talented, to be sure, but she wasn't someone that I wanted to emulate.

So, who do I think will be replacing her at Vogue? That's a tough one. There have been so many changes to that masthead in the past year and a half that even I can barely keep up with it. This person would have to have an edge on society happenings, since he or she will be responsible for gathering the Ten Best Dressed/ Girl-of-the Moment ladies. This person will also be involved with the big productions Vogue puts on, like the Met Ball (though I believe Sylvana Ward-Durret handles the brunt of that). I'm predicting the promotion will come from the top middle of the masthead, someone young who has been at Vogue for a few years. Maybe relative newcomer Ricki de Sole? As the daughter of Domenico de Sole, she certainly knows a thing or two about money and Society. She probably has connections up the wazoo, too. Still, she hasn't been with the magazine that long, and heiresses tend to depart pretty quickly (um...Devon (née Schuster) Radziwill, Claiborne Swanson), so that might not be a safe pick. I don't know, I'm stumped.

Will I be reading T&C now that another Vogue alumna is joining the ranks? T&C is one of those magazines that I covertly flip through on occasion. It's one of the more pretentious magazines, in my opinion, out there. It's on par with something like the Robb Report in that it makes no bones about who the target audience really is. Magazines like Vogue, Bazaar, T+L, etc. feature ideas that are sophisticated and cultured, which appeals to a certain group of people, but they aren't blatantly focused on wealth. I only became interested in T&C when Lauren Bush appeared on the cover back in the early 2000s. Since then other society girls like Amanda Hearst (or was it Lydia?), Lauren Santo Domingo, and Eugenia Silva have appeared on the cover. The fashion editorials are OK, but nothing forward-thinking enough to really hold my attention. So, no, I really doubt I'll be reading T&C any more than I do now.

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About Me

I am a twenty-something fashion fanatic from the Midwest. My interests in fashion include the fashion photographers from the 1920s and 1930s (specifically Steichen and Brassaï), London's role in the globalisation of the fashion industry, high and low fashion in photography, models, and early couturiers from Paris and London. I am also an avid traveler and enjoy understanding the role that personal adornment plays in gender roles, identity, and cultural traditions.